I think they have caught on to the scam....
"Obama sends enigmatic cues to Capitol Hill" By Michael D. Shear and Carl Hulse, New York Times February 07, 2015
WASHINGTON — Four days before President Obama unveiled a sweeping $60 billion vision of free community college for millions of Americans, his staff reached out to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a former education secretary and a Republican authority on the issue.
That guy gives me the creeps.
But even as they invited Alexander to ride with Obama aboard Air Force One for the announcement last month in Knoxville, Tenn., White House aides made it clear that they were informing the senator about the plan, not consulting him. In return, Alexander was uncompromising: He would not support the president’s big idea.
I can't imagine the budget-strapped states will, either -- but it sure sounded good on TV, 'eh?
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As the president travels across the country promoting an expensive domestic agenda for his last two years in office — including a trip on Friday to Indiana to push his community college proposal — his strategy on Capitol Hill is raising questions about what Obama hopes to accomplish.
What's the carbon footprint on that?
Is he trying to pass legislation in cooperation with an often-hostile Republican-controlled Congress?
Depends on the issue.
Or is he mainly trying to bring attention to issues that he sees as burnishing his legacy and that will set the table for the 2016 presidential campaign?
Then it will be a legacy of failure, and the campaign will again be the $ame old, $ame old.
Obama has so far found little traction with Congress on major proposals related to child care, paid sick leave, tax policy, and higher education. His legislative aides have struggled to find Republicans willing to endorse the legislation. Few lawmakers say they have even been approached by Obama’s staff.
He's behaving kind of like a.... (gulp).... dictator.
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The rollout for what the White House called “America’s College Promise” illustrates the tension between the administration’s desire to put Obama’s imprimatur on an issue and the need to enlist allies on Capitol Hill and along the lobbying corridor of K Street.
Officials from the White House and the Education Department told top lawmakers in both parties about the plan only the night before it was announced on Jan. 9.
Community college advocacy groups in Washington that would need to be on the front lines of a lobbying effort received a similar courtesy call. Officials for the groups said the president’s aides had spent little, if any, time working out details of the proposal with them.
Meaning this was something they threw into the speech hoping it would get good pub with the people!
“I am not aware of any outreach,” said a member of one advocacy group, who asked for anonymity to avoid antagonizing the White House.
Why would anyone have to worry about.... never mind.
Now, weeks after Obama pledged in his State of the Union address to “lower the cost of community college — to zero,” White House officials acknowledge that the idea is headed for a “long slog” in the months ahead.
Meaning it is going absolutely nowhere.
Nonetheless, they said it was too early to judge the success of the plan and pointed to a program to guarantee free universal preschool as an example of what they hope to achieve. The president asked Congress for $75 billion over 10 years for the preschool program, promoted the issue outside Congress, and last year received $750 million, which Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, characterized as “serious money” and a good start.
She said the same thing could happen for the community college plan. “You create a conversation all over the country that catches on sufficiently that Congress has to stand up and take note,” she said.
Like they listen to us!
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Someone noted this way back in the business section:
"Student loan payment plan could be costly" by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post February 07, 2015
WASHINGTON — There’s a big caution sign appearing in front of the government’s generous program to let borrowers cap their monthly student loan payments to a percentage of their earnings.
Plea$e, no.
Use of so-called income-driven plans could cost $22 billion more than the government expected, raising concerns about the sustainability of a cornerstone of the Obama administration’s education policy.
The whole administration is crumbling in these final two years. That's what happens when you have institutional rot in government.
Although Politico, which first reported the expense, called it a shortfall, budget analysts say it’s not a deficit but rather a revised estimate of costs. The expense was tucked into a footnote of Obama’s 2016 budget proposal.
Say again.
It has taken a while for borrowers to warm up to these plans, mainly because so few have known of their existence. But now that more people are on board, the costs are starting to rise, according to revised estimates from federal budget analysts.
Still, people who miss out are more likely to default on their student debt, which comes with serious consequences. Defaulting on student debt can severely damage a person’s credit rating, making it much harder to buy a car or a house or get a credit card.
‘‘Pay-As-You-Earn will ultimately serve taxpayers well by helping students avoid default and ensuring students are able to responsibly manage their debt as they repay their student loans,’’ said an official in the White House budget office. ‘‘It will strengthen the economy by encouraging more young people to go to college and by lifting the burden of unaffordable debt off of recent graduates.’’
To be clear, there is no escaping repaying federal loans. Uncle Sam will find you, take your tax refund or garnish your wages, even your social security check — meaning there is limited risk of the government losing money.
Now when, dear children, are they going to get after the banksters and war-profiteers?
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And Obummer is supposed to be you kids' friend!
"Bill to revise education law alarms House Democrats" Associated Press February 06, 2015
WASHINGTON — House Democratic lawmakers are clamoring to get their views heard as Congress moves ahead on revising the much-maligned No Child Left Behind education law and its annual school testing requirements.
They crowded into a small Capitol Hill hearing room Thursday for their own forum on changing the law in protest of Republicans’ handling of the issue. Votes on a GOP bill are anticipated soon.
The bill ‘‘shows that poor, minority, and disabled children are not a priority for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle,’’ said Representative Marcia Fudge, Democrat of Ohio.
Some worried about a provision to let federal dollars follow a low-income student to a different public school, saying they fear it would hurt schools with a high concentration of poor students. ‘‘How do you think we can best get that message out?’’ said Representative Susan Davis, Democrat of California.
The No Child Left Behind law, signed by President Bush in 2002, was intended to close substantial achievement gaps between the academic performance of minority and low-income students and their more affluent peers. It mandated that students in grades 3 to 8 be tested annually in reading and math and be tested again once in high school.
GOP Representative John Boehner of Ohio, now the House speaker, sponsored the legislation with Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The law’s annual testing requirements, Common Core standards, and school choice are all controversial issues.
We have nothing in common(core).
Allegiances don’t clearly fall along party lines. While more conservative Republicans would like to essentially eliminate the federal role in education, GOP-friendly business groups support a strong federal role, as do civil rights groups that traditionally align with Democrats. At the same time, teachers’ unions, which also tend to align with Democrats, argue the Obama administration has placed too much emphasis on testing.
Deciding that the goal of proficiency for every student by 2014 was unattainable, the administration in 2012 started granting waivers. These allow states to avoid some of the more stringent requirements of the law if they met conditions such as adopting meaningful teacher evaluation systems and college- and career-ready standards like the Common Core, which spells out what skills students in each grade should master in reading and math.
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Tests are not the only problem in the schools:
"Lincoln-Sudbury H.S. faces federal probe over assault complaints" by Matt RocheleauGlobe Correspondent February 14, 2015
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School is among 29 K-12 schools and education districts across the country under federal investigation for their handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints.
The US Education Department has been investigating Lincoln-Sudbury since June.
The investigation centers around possible violations of Title IX, a federal rule that bans discrimination based on sex at educational institutions and programs that receive federal aid.
The department has said that being under investigation does not indicate a school is violating or has violated the law....
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At least the kids are graduating these days and the teachers are getting smarter, even if you can't understand a word they are saying.
